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Using an erotic, pornographic tone, Hollywood leading lady Scarlett Johansson reads verses from the Holy Bible on a new comedy album, in order to mock “misogynistic” quotes within the Book of Deuteronomy. Former Saturday Night Live writer and occasional performer Mike O’Brien recruited the A-list star to voice a “Sexy Bible” track on his upcoming comedy album, Tasty Radio.

God’s Law is Personal and Loving By: Msgr. Charles PopeWhen we speak of God’s law, there is a danger that we might think of it as we think of any secular law. We usually think of secular law merely as a sort of impersonal code written by nameless legislators or bureaucrats. We have not met them; we do not know them or necessarily love or trust them. In effect, they are an abstraction in our mind called “the government,” or “the man,” or just “they,” as in, “They don’t want you to park here” or “They’ll arrest you for that.”But God’s...

The Church Fathers held an unwavering belief that the Second Person of the Trinity appeared frequently in the Old Testament in a variety of forms: the Angel of the Lord, the Burning Bush, the Son of Man, and the one like a Son of God in Daniel.Today we’ll look at a debate regarding the Angel of the Lord. Is he are isn’t the Pre-Incarnate Son of God? There are various positions in early Christianity.The Greek Church Fathers (for example, Saint Athanasius) are convinced that “the Angel of the Lord” is the pre-incarnate Christ. They posit that the Angel of the Lord is categorically different from lower...

There are several things to realize about the Old Testament harvests and feasts. The three harvests (Exodus 23:14-17) parallel the Crucifixion/Resurrection, Pentecost/The Church, and Christ's Return (1 Corinthians 15:23-24). The seven feasts of these harvests (Leviticus 23) correspond to the Church's liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Ordinary, Lent, Triduum, Easter, Ordinary. The harvest seasons can be classified as such: the first (Spring/Summer) gave grain, the second (Summer) gave grapes, and the third (Summer/Fall) gave olives, figs, and more. The first, of grains, was smaller in weight -- because the other harvests were water-dense -- but the biggest source of food, as...

Many people—religious and non-religious—are asking questions about a word they hear the media use when referring to ISIS and other Islamist jihadists. That word is apocalyptic, which is used when specifically referring to the fatalism of Islamists.People wonder, why do so many Muslims (both Sunni and Shiite) operate with such an “apocalyptic,” end-of-world mindset?Our secular society, however, coupled with the media’s carelessness, is bandying about words like apocalyptic without using them properly and without explanation. That creates a great deal of confusion for some, many of which just throw up their hands in resignation and say, “I don’t understand this.”But for...

Jerome's Vulgate was the first translation of the Old Testament into Latin --- directly from the Masoretic Text. Given that, was Jerome's Version, the Vulgate, inspired by God if Jesus did not quote from the Masoretic Text? If Jesus Christ did not quote from the Masoretic Text, what authoritative power(s) could the original Vulgate have contained, and what authentic inspiration did Jerome possess at that time of his translation? At the time its translation the Vulgate was considered to be authoritative, but how correct were any at this time to declare the Vulgate to be authoritative and/or inspired? If it...

Why did God allow for the striking-down of people in the Old Testament? How is this reconciled with the dogma of a loving God?Protestants and modern-day "Jews" don't have an answer for this -- one beyond dualism or "mystery", I mean. But the Church does. There is mortal sin, and there is venial sin (1 John 5:17). Mortal sin -- willful and of grave nature -- separates one from God, practically killing the soul. Venial sin -- all other -- must simply be cleansed, and it does not eternally separate us from Him. And this distinction is shown in the...

“You’ll find our text this morning in the Old Testament…” I know this is a rare announcement on a Sunday morning, but when you heard it last, what did you think? “Oh no! Not another historical lecture.” “We’re going to get a whipping with the law today.” “Why? I came to church to hear about Jesus.” “What’s Israel and Babylon got to do with my family struggles?” Or maybe you didn’t just think it. You said it or emailed it to the pastor afterwards. And pastors are feeling the pressure. Some surveys put the ratio of Old Testament to New...

U2 frontman Bono talks about his faith and answers the question "Who is Jesus?" in the video below. Click play to watch. Link Here with Video (2 mins 46 secs)

Dr Irving Finkel In 1985 a man called Douglas Simmonds brought a bag of miscellaneous antiquities to the British Museum for inspection. Dr Irving Finkel, the museum’s assistant keeper of ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures, went through the curiosities and quickly discovered that one of them, a small Babylonian tablet covered in cuneiform (an ancient form of script) was a historical document of great significance. As an expert in Assyriology and cuneiform, Finkel only needed to read the first few lines of this small, craggy tablet to realise that this was a segment of an ancient Mespotamian myth, the...

Introduction: Although the "New Testament" contains the same twenty-seven books for almost all Christians, there are some major and important differences between the "Hebrew Bible" (HB) used by Jews and different versions of the "Old Testament" (OT) used by various Christian churches and denominations: The foundational texts are different: Jewish Bibles are based on the HB; the OT section in Christian Bibles is arranged according to the order of books in the "Septuagint" (LXX), the ancient Greek version of the Jewish scriptures;however, the translations of individual OT books in Christian Bibles are now usually based on the texts of the...

Dr Laura Schlessinger is a US radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. A few years back, she said, rightly, that homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstances. An open letter to Dr. Laura was penned and posted on the Internet. It has since done the rounds: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Dr. Laura, Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I...

Archaeologists discover holes carved into the ground in Shiloh which could have held the beams of The Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting, which, according to the Bible, housed the Ark of the Covenant. A model of the Tabernacle at Timna Park in Israel << 1 2 >> The Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting -- which, according to the Bible, housed the Ark of the Covenant -- was a temporary structure made of wooden beams and fabric, not materials cut out for thousands of years of survival. Nevertheless, undaunted, archaeologists have searched for evidence of the Tent of Meeting for years,...

Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, who is writing an upcoming book titled “Killing Jesus,” proclaimed on his program Wednesday night that “a lot of the Bible is allegorical,” and the New Testament Gospels contradict themselves. O’Reilly made the remarks during an interview with “Touched by an Angel” star Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett, executive producers of “The Bible” TV miniseries which begins this Sunday night on the History Channel.

Featured Term (selected at random):SEPTUAGINT The most important translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. As the story goes, the Egyptian king, Ptolemy II (309-246 B.C.), sought a copy of Jewish law for his library. Eleazer, the Jewish high priest, sent six scholars from each of the Twelve Tribes to Alexandria to work on the translation. Because of the number of the scholars involved, their joint co-operative production was called the Septuagint, abbreviated LXX. The early Christians used the Septuagint as a basis for their belief in Jesus as the Messiah. As time went on, it steadily became a...

8 Alleged Resting Places of the Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant is an artifact associated with Jewish, Islamic, and Christian faiths. Depending on the source, the Ark holds the Ten Commandments, a staff that once became a snake, a portion of the Torah, and more. After the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in the 6th Century B.C.E. (sic), the Ark of the Covenant disappeared from religious records. Where did it go? Here are eight incredible, conspiracy-minded theories. 1. The Tomb of King Tut A 1922 picture of the early excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun shows an...

Found: Ancient Warrior's Helmet, Owner Unknown A Greek bronze helmet, covered with gold leaf and decorated with snakes, lions and a peacock's tail (or palmette), has been discovered in the waters of Haifa Bay in Israel. But how this helmet ended up at the bottom of the bay is a mystery. The helmet dates back around 2,600 years and likely belonged to a wealthy Greek mercenary who took part in a series of wars, immortalized in the Bible, which ravaged the region at that time. Archaeologists believe that he likely fought for an Egyptian pharaoh named Necho II. Dredging discovery...

Featured Term (selected at random):LABAN Son of Bethuel, a descendant of Nahor from the land of the Aramaeans. When the aged Abraham sought a wife for his son Isaac, he sent a trusted servant back to his kinfolk to find a suitable wife. With Yahweh's help he chose Rebekah. Bethuel, her father, and Laban, her brother, willingly supported the choice and so Rebekah married Isaac (Genesis 24). Years later Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, was sent by his parents to live with his uncle in the hope that he would take one of Laban's daughters to be his...

In my previous essay I tried to show how two of Jesus' teachings bear on the issue of whether He condones homosexual behavior. These were words directly from His mouth that deal with our question indirectly. In this article I plan to discuss an indirect way He addressed the direct issue, as well as a direct way He dealt with the matter directly. Yes, Jesus had a surprising amount to say about homosexuality. Jesus' commission: The Apostles speak for Him It must have seemed like a good idea at the time: to print the "Words of Christ in Red." But...

I am getting ready to start a series in my Sunday school class on the Feasts of the Lord, as described in the 23rd chapter of Leviticus. We are Southern Baptists, but there are 3 Seven Day Adventists who attend my class. I know what's coming: we are going to get tangled up with discussing whether or not Christians must follow Old Testament Law. I know the SDAs worship on Saturdays, and at least these 3 people claim to eat kosher (although it seems that to them it just means avoiding pork). I would appreciate any suggestions as to how...